Black Tabby Tuesday

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Riley is Rascal's sister, the two kittens were adopted together after they were found abandoned in a park at the end of August, apparently on the day they were born. That makes them the youngest in the five feline crew at Grr, Midnight and Cocoa. Rascal is the only non-House Panther in the group, the token tabby.

She likes to sleep on the heads of people who are sleeping, she also likes to bite on something when she's sleeping...a finger, a bit of blanket...

Grr tries to eat her and stalks her like prey, but she will scream as loudly as possible when Grr attacks her. She sounds exactly like an angry panther, and not like a frightened kitten.

Aside from her Panther roar, she has a very fierce growl and is even more grrrr-ier then Grr, more biteyer than Cocoa and more maddening then Midnight.



Tuesday's Events at Cat Blogosphere
Tattle Tail Tuesday or other kind of tails, or tales as well
Tabby Tuesday for all Attack Tabbies (or other sorts of tabbies)
Tuxie Toosday for all Tuxedo Cats at the Tuxedo Gang Hideout
Tummy Tuesday for showing off all those kitty tummies
Toesies Tummy for showing those claws…errrr… toes
Tortie Tuesday with Tough A** Torties Club
Cats on Tuesday

AND NOW: Black Tabby Tuesday on House Panthers!



Soothing the Savage Beast

(Article by Caroline Goldman
Part 2 of 2)

MUSICAL STYLES

Not everyone agrees on whether music calms cats, but everyone seems to agree on the type of music to do the job; soft classical tunes, instrumental, muzak and elevator music - anything with a steady, calm rhythm.

"Humans relax with calm music, so most classical pieces, elevator music and similar bland types would be best," Beaver says. "I would avoid loud, highly active pieces." Beaver refers to one study that showed how cats relaxed to classical music but not to jazz. Other types of music had no affect. Another study showed that anything. calm and steady works well, and rock music actively disturbs cats. Rhythm might play a key role in calming nervous cats.

"We do know from established research that music that mimics natural body rhythms has clear effects on behaviors in humans," says Mary Lee Nitschke, an animal behaviorist at Animal School Behavior Services in Portland, Oregon. “For example, baroque music is close to the human heartbeat frequency. I don't know why it would be different for felines, and I would bet their preferences would show some relationship to patterns that entrain, mimic or are in synchrony with their basic biological rhythms."

Biological rhythms, such as heartbeats, often are incorporated into music to calm fussy babies. Terry Woodford, the maker of Baby-Go-To-Sleep Heartbeat Music Therapy CDs, began selling heartbeat music created specifically for pets after customers reported that his music calmed the cat, too.

Many others are making music just for pets. Pet Melodies mixes classical Mozart and Beethoven with biorhythms and natural sounds such as ocean waves. Janet Marlow strums her guitar in her pet-relaxation series. Pets Love Music makes "Cat Dreams" (volumes 1 and 2) while Aristocratic Pet created "Music to Calm Your Pets." Along with product descriptions and purchasing opportunities, of course, come the customer reviews - personal tales of how normally fussy Bootsy or Tiger settled into a serene silence upon hearing the music.

WHATEVER WORKS

For Thomas, the proof that music calms cats came in Sweetface's tranquil acceptance of his regular fluid injections. Even his veterinarian admitted how rare it was for a cat to live so long on daily injections.

"Sweetface's quality of life remained excellent, playful and loving, right up until the end," Thomas says. "So, yes, I believe music may affect animals - just as it does us."

While Sweetface's doctor didn't advocate the use of music, he urged Thomas to continue whatever put the cat and herself at ease during the injections. As Beaver says, "Calm music certainly can't hurt, and if it helps, so much the better."



Want to join House Panthers? Our membership is open to members of the black, grey (Russian Blue) and dark brown (Bombay) clans. Ask Not the Mama to e-mail you an invitation!

Find a new friend at Petfinder.com, the temporary home of 245,845 adoptable pets from 11,827 adoption groups. Over 9,000 house panthers are available around the country!